Feb 1, 2012

For the love of the 'B' Word!

"A
room without books is like a body without a soul."

--
Marcus Tullius Cicero

Truer
words have seldom been spoken. Being an innate bookworm, I find it rather hard
to digest when I hear people say that they don’t enjoy reading or are not too
fond of books. Given a chance, i would like to believe that most of them are
closet readers; but knowing that the reality is far from the same, my next bet
would be to shake them hard and ask – are you mad?

I,
for most part, just cannot imagine a life without books! The best memories of
my childhood have revolved around me reading, from English textbooks to Tinkle,
Chandamama and Amar Chitra Katha. Books were my refuge! They gave me siblings i
wish i had, entertained me to bits on days, when my parents were busy with
life, gave me friends, i knew i never had! They made me feel much cooler about
myself than i may have actually been. I was never an outdoorsy person, and
books complemented my nature completely.
Most evenings i would be holed up with a book in a corner, waiting for
my dad to come, when my mom would literally push (yes, you heard it right,
push!) me out of the house to go play! Boy, would i be one pissed kid who would
march off, only to return a couple of minutes later under the pretext of being
thirsty or having to visit the restroom. Nothing would make me ‘play a game’
over reading! My mom tried her best, but soon gave up all hopes of encouraging
me to do anything requiring any kind of physical activity. (But that’s another
post)

So
books it were! My companions, my friends, my besties! While Alice in Wonderland
was completely relatable, as I had an imagination as vivid as hers, Nancy Drew
was the coolest girl i knew. The Malory Towers tales made me secretly wish for
schooling in a hostel. Life in these books was beautiful, neat and eventful.
While my school life was full of Enid Blyton and the World and Childcraft
series, my college life introduced me to P. G. Wodehouse. Yes, possibly this
introduction was a little later in the day, than what most children start
reading it, but it was my pleasure, nevertheless! What a brilliant author! My
fascination for reading improved tremendously in college, thanks to a very well
stocked and vibrant college library, which housed classics and contemporary
alike. So Wodehouse, Dickens, Laxman, Arundhati Roy and Jhumpa Lahiri were all
lapped up in equal measure. Here again, most of my friend circle preferred
Sidney Sheldon (and boy, was he a rage!), i fell in love with Archer’s Kane and
Abel. While completing my CS, John Grisham became my preferred author. His
usage of legalese was something that I could increasingly relate to and which
made his books very interesting.

My
love story with the books continued long after i completed my graduation and
professional studies. With the increasing exposure to management and economic
books, non-fiction became the new “cool” thing that caught my fancy. Sure, it
made me a “geek” overnight, but non-fiction brings with it, a charm and with
the right amount of inquisitive mind, it can get you to think and see things
and situations in a manner, erstwhile rarely perceived. Books made my life
interesting.

And
then i met H. I love H, and one of the things which made me gape in awe of him,
was his interest and command over some brilliant economic and non-fiction
writers. Ofcourse, later he told me, that he wouldn’t be able to complete an
Atlas Shrugged (by my absolute favourite author – Ayn Rand) or a Ken Follet, he
could read possibly every non-fiction book there could be around. Oh, also
additional marks were given for our mutual distaste of CB Novels and all those
new-age English authors, which both of us find extremely childish and boring. Some of our best dates have included coffee
shops, bookstores (how i absolutely love them) and books. The most romantic
thing he has done for me, prior to our marriage also involved a book!

Anyways,
before i digress again, books have always played an extremely important part of
my life. They have been the one thing which keep me going, which provide me
with space when i want to escape from the realities of life, yet sometimes they
are the ones which give me the strength to accept certain inalienable truths.

I
think the entire process of my attachment to reading began, with a certain
incident in Bangalore. My family was vacationing at a relatives home and I was
in the first standard (age 5). I managed to read the entire headline of the TOI
at one stretch, and boy, were my parents proud! I don’t remember anything else
that gave me as much happiness as that moment did. They were beaming, tortured
me to read it a couple of more times, in front of all relatives, et all (the
typical shin-dig!) and that was encouragement enough – after all, i was the
coolest kid on earth! (at least in my head).

This journey i believe is going to
be a never ending one. Within 2 months of shifting to my new home, i have
already created a stack full of books (Thanks to the Crossword sale) and
discovered some wonderful authors (Haruki Murakami – wonderful and beautiful –
together!!). Seems like, finally, someday, the dream of having a library of
my own, would be true!

P.S:
I never lend, so don’t even ask.

P.
P. S: I don’t buy the pirated editions either, so yes, this hobby does leave my
husband feeling a little lighter! I tell him, this is a substitute for exercising
:-P

3 comments:

I couldn't agree more. Although i don't think I am even halfway eligible to say I am fond of books too, if your list was so long! But yes, whenever I do read, I get engrossed and certainly makes me feel like I am the coolest person on earth. You really get into a different zone, a world of your own.

PS: I read Kane and Abel a little too late, but better late than never. And I just couldn't stop praising Mr. Archer for his style of story-telling. Remains to be one of my favourites, EVER. I was so glad you mentioned that book!

And of course, amar chitra katha shall always be every indian's best friend.

Books are an alternate universe that help us escape our humdrum lives and live, if only for a limited time, in someone else's imagined land. It is a good idea to accumulate them. But you need to reconsider your stand on lending...not everyone will dhaapo your books you know...